


Stranger

by zetuslapetus



Category: Good Girls (TV)
Genre: F/M, Temporary Amnesia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-13 15:21:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29030838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zetuslapetus/pseuds/zetuslapetus
Summary: Amnesia [noun] | loss of a large block of interrelated memories; complete or partial loss of memory caused by brain injury, shock, etc.
Relationships: Beth Boland/Rio
Comments: 25
Kudos: 138





	Stranger

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, long time no see. Where have I been? Depressed and dead inside? Yes. Obsessed with my kindle subscription that I literally cannot focus on anything else? Also, yes. What is this? I have absolutely nothing to say ... except it popped into my head when I was in the cereal aisle and my brain would not let me live my life until I put it down on paper and so naturally, I had to share my trash with you. I am also very conflicted about whether amnesia should be a driving force in my writing but here we are. I did no research other than googling the definition of the word so none of this is correct in any shape or form. I hope it brings you a modicum of joy in this dark world. I am going to try and spend some quality time with my other WIPs .. I've missed you all. Besos.

The painkillers are good - too good. The pain in her head has dulled almost completely and the rest of her body, well; her arms, for one, dangle against her sides, heavy, barely attached to her body. 

She feels  _ fantastic _ , so good that she almost forgets where she is. 

So good that she almost forgets the last eight hours. 

The buzzing in her ears, though, is another story. It’s loud, sharp and somehow every time she closes her eyes the shrilling gets louder. A steady, unrelenting hum. 

Tinnitus, the doctor had explained, another perfectly normal side effect of pummeling head-on into a tree.

She can hear Annie speaking, muffled in the background until she focuses on her sister's voice. 

“No - Ruby, she’s  _ fine _ ,” Annie mumbles into the phone pressed between her jaw and shoulder and turns to her sister. “You’re fine, right?”

Beth doesn’t respond immediately, or at all; not until Annie says her name again, voice just on the edge of frantic. “Beth?” 

Beth hums out a disinterested response, finally turning her attention to Annie.

She nods once, slowly, and turns her eyes back to the passing traffic outside. 

Her skin prickles every time the Buick in the lane next to them comes a little too close. She closes her eyes, tries to recall how she got here but it only makes her head pound.

“No, you don’t need to - “ Annie begins then immediately stops as the voice on the other line interrupts her. She exhales dramatically and gives Beth another worried glance before turning to face the traffic ahead.

“No, we took an MRI and the doctor said she’s fine.”

Another pause is followed by more muted yelling from the phone. 

“I mean - not fine, but she will be, she just needs to rest. It’s the mildest case of renegade amnesia the doctors’ seen.”

“Retrograde,” Beth hums nonchalantly. 

“What?” Annie says, looking over to Beth, the phone still nudged against her shoulder. 

“It’s  _ retrograde _ amnesia, not renegade.”

Annie rolls her eyes and huffs into the phone.

“Yeah, she’s fine - she can forget all of us but not how to be a smart ass, I guess.”

Beth rolls her eyes and reaches a hand out for the phone.

“OW,” Annie grumbles when Beth fishes the phone from her, clipping and tugging one of her dangly earrings in the process. 

“I haven’t forgotten you,” Beth says into the phone. “Ruby, I’m  _ fine _ .” 

Beth pauses long enough for Annie to look over, worried at the prolonged silence. She frowns at the dazed look on Beth’s face.

“What?” Annie whispers.

Beth shakes her head and grimaces in confusion. 

“Sarah?” Beth says into the phone and Annie groans at the yelling that breaks out on the other side of the line once again.

_ Give me back to Annie - give me back to -  _

Beth hands the phone to Annie and rubs her temple, wincing when she accidentally touches the bandage on her forehead. 

“Hello?” Annie huffs quietly.

Ruby yells again, threatening Annie and yelling at Stan to turn the car around immediately in the same breath. 

“Ruby, there’s nothing you can do, even if you  _ were _ here.”

More yelling.

“I’m going to get her home, tuck her in, and by the time you come back this will all be over and she’ll be back to her smart-ass self,” Annie says, doing her best to sound hopeful in a sad attempt to placate Ruby. “I mean, she already kinda is,” she adds quietly. 

Beth frowns, shuts her eyes, and rests her head back against the seat as Annie continues chatting with Ruby.

After what feels like forever Annie hangs up, finally having convinced Ruby to not turn back. 

Annie pulls into the driveway and shuffles Beth inside. 

“Annie,” Beth whispers once she’s on the couch.

“What? Are you in pain?”

Beth grins, breaks into a smile, and then cackles louder than Annie’s ever heard her laugh. 

“Oh, god,” Annie whispers in fear. 

Beth laughs until tears pool in her eyes. It’s warm and so contagious that Annie sinks to the floor next to her and laughs too.

When Annie joins it triggers something in Beth who shrieks even louder.

“I hated that van, so much,” Beth hiccups between bursts of laughter. “I hated everything about it - the double seats, the cupholders, the stupid automated door that always got stuck.” 

Annie hums and leans her cheek on Beth’s thigh.

“Well, congrats on totaling it.”

Beth exhales loudly and after a few moments of quiet her breathing evens out and she falls asleep.

* * *

Three days later she’s still on the couch, in day-old sweats and surrounded by junk food.

“You know, this probably isn’t what I should be doing,” Beth says between handfuls of popcorn

“What?” Annie asks, eyes still glued to the TV.

“Shouldn’t we be doing normal things that will help me remember?”

“This  _ is  _ normal!” Annie exclaims and turns to Beth with a resentful stare on her face.

Beth levels her with a single look, and it suddenly feels like  _ before,  _ like she’s back.

“You could come to work with me?” 

“I think I’m going to craft,” Beth says with a small smile on her face to which Annie responds by audibly gagging.

“That sounds about right,” Annie grunts and jumps off the couch. “I’m closing tonight so I won’t be home until midnight.” 

Beth frowns again as she tries to recall where Annie’s work is.

Annie sighs, a little defeated.    
  
“Fine and Frugal.” 

Beth snaps her fingers as if she’d just missed the answer to a trivia question she’d known. 

“Jesus,” Annie mutters to herself and rubs the popcorn butter off her face.

Crafting keeps her entertained for a few hours, then she moves on to baking but gets distracted halfway through and burns her muffins. It takes another hour to air out the kitchen and get the smell of burnt sugar out of her nostrils. 

She keeps the backdoor open until she can’t smell the caramelly sweetness in the air anymore. 

The pain meds make her a little loopy but she’s happy and distracted enough to not notice the figure seated at her kitchen counter until she closes and locks the door, until he speaks.

“Hey now,” he murmurs quietly.

She doesn’t scream. 

Maybe it’s the meds that dull her reaction, or maybe it’s the tone of his greeting - deep and calming, she doesn’t know.

She freezes mid-step, turns on her toes to face him, and inhales sharply. 

He’s seated comfortably on a stool with his long legs extended and crossed at the ankles. She takes more of him in until her eyes find his own, and she realizes he’s smirking at her. 

He doesn’t look like he belongs, dressed in all black, eyes too intense, but he feels familiar, that much she can tell. 

His head tilts as he studies her expression but his smile quickly fades as his eyes lock onto what she knows is still a gruesome cut on her forehead. She suppresses the itch to raise a hand to it, touch it, cover it from him.

His face twists, just for the briefest moment until his eyes snap back to her own. They’re a little sharper, brows thick and arched in question. An unfamiliar feeling twists in her belly, fear.

His legs fold below him and he jumps to his feet so abruptly that it startles her, breaks the moment and she takes a step back until her bottom hits the kitchen cabinet with a loud  _ thud _ . 

Her reaction must surprise him just as much because he doesn’t move any closer. He nods at her forehead before he speaks.

“What happened?”

Addled as she is, it takes a moment for Beth to hear and understand his question. Her lips part and she exhales softly once, then again. It’s hard to think under his pointed stare, and did he get closer?

“Elizabeth,” he speaks again, a tone of impatience coloring his smooth voice. 

“Car accident,” she finally croaks out. 

The tips of his sneakers almost touch her sock-clad toes and she has to tilt her head up to keep his gaze but he isn’t even looking at her anymore. 

“When?”

She blinks a few times, trying to recall  _ when,  _ but it’s one of the things she hasn’t been able to remember well - times and details. 

She shakes her head, feeling the tension of her inability to answer him settle into her shoulders. 

He reaches out and she has to fight the urge to flinch, but he barely touches her skin when he pushes the bangs away from her cut. The hair tickles as he tucks it behind her ear. 

“Do you know who I am?” 

She lets out a shuddered breath, feels the tears pooling in the corner of her eyes. 

He must know, whether, from her reaction or the blank,  _ stupid _ look she must have plastered across her face right now, he must know. 

She shakes her head again, slowly, and pushes back into the kitchen island in an attempt to put some distance between them. 

She can feel her lip tremble.

“No,” she whispers and his hand drops from her the moment the word leaves her mouth.

He nods slowly but reacts better than Annie had when the doctor had first told her or Ruby when she’d finally made it back into town.

“Amnesia,” he states casually.

“Retrograde - s-short term.”

It hasn’t been a week yet and she’s already remembered the dog’s name and how Annie takes her coffee but not everything, not  _ him _ . 

His eyes flash with something she can’t place, anger, maybe. His lip twitches as his eyes leave her face to take in the empty kitchen and the rest of the quiet house.

“And your sister left you alone?”

Beth shakes her head quickly, feeling the sudden urge to defend Annie from this stranger.

“No - she’s staying with me - “ 

His brow turns in question at the fact that he’d found her alone, found her almost burning her kitchen down.

“She’s just at work,” Beth stumbles, pauses for a minute before she dumbly adds. “My husband doesn’t live here anymore.”

Why she feels the need to share that piece of information with him is beyond her. 

Annie had made that fact clear, refusing to refer to Dean by his name. Beth hadn’t remembered why he didn’t live there anymore and when Annie had told her she’d whispered it across the dark living room. 

The stranger’s mouth lifts up into a smirk, his smile gradually getting larger like he can’t help the grin breaking through. Her mouth feels a little dry watching his expression shift, the way his wide smile and teeth light up his entire face. 

It does something to her she can’t process, makes her heart thump so noticeably against her rib cage all of a sudden. 

“Oh, I’m well aware of that, darling.”

_ Darling _ .

She has to suppress a shiver at  _ that _ , the implied intimacy just out of her reach; and the look in his eyes, the gaze that’s no longer on her face as he studies the rest of her, as if he’s looking for more evidence to explain her current predicament.

_ I’m fine  _ \- she wants to yell at him -  _ stop looking at me like I’m broken. _

He’s still smiling when he steps away, one foot back, then another. 

“Who are you?” She asks,  _ finally _ .

His lips press together as his smile falters. 

“A friend.”

Her nostrils flare with a sharp inhale because no, she doesn’t remember, but she definitely knows that that’s a lie. 

She feels a desperate feeling bubble in her chest, an urge to snap at him. The weight of his gaze feels impossible but her body moves into it, welcomes it and she takes a step towards him.

“I don’t think so,” she responds carefully. 

His mouth parts, bottom lip dropping open just short of obscene, surprised at her response. She clocks it before he can school his face. 

“I won’t remember unless I  _ do _ the things I used to … do … before,” she says softly and what she wants to explain is what the doctor had instructed; for her to slip back into life as normal, that it was the best way to remember. 

From the look on his face, though, she doesn’t think she’d accomplished that.

His lip jerks again, another smile threatening her very existence. 

“Oh, yeah?” 

She nods. “Baking and crafting, the PTA, and ..” she croaks when he steps closer. 

“Never did any of that together,” he hums and shakes his head lazily. His eyes are playful again, watching her in that way he did when she’d first spotted him lounging just a foot away from where he stalks her now. 

She blurts out her next thought before she can even process it fully. 

“What did we do together?” 

She can feel the edge of his sneaker against one of her feet, and the corner of his knee against her thigh. He’s so close and her hand shakes a bit, fingers itching to touch the sweater he’s wearing, feel the soft material, feel how warm he is. 

“Nothing good, Elizabeth.”

His nostrils flare and she can’t help but stare at his mouth and the way it opens before he speaks again.

“You’re gonna lock the door behind me,” he says and it takes a second for Beth’s brain to catch up with what he’s saying. “And when you remember, you give me a call, yeah?”

Then he breathes and straightens, somehow taller, and steps towards the door.

“And what if I don’t?” She blurts out. When he pauses and she’s sure she’s still got his attention, she adds quietly. “What if I don’t remember?” 

He’s got a hand wrapped around the handle already, door halfway opened when he looks back. He pins her with a stare, heavy and loaded. His mouth opens but he doesn’t speak. 

Instead, he shakes his head and lifts one shoulder softly as if to say  _ it is what it is  _ except his eyes bore into her until the last possible moment.

Then he’s gone and she’s left standing in the middle of her kitchen staring after him until her head begins to ache and she has to remember where Annie's left her prescription.

She’s still awake when Annie comes home. 

“Why are you awake?” Annie frowns when she spots her on the couch, sitting in the dark. The reflection of whatever she’d left on the TV bouncing across her pale face. 

Annie exhales, drops her purse on the floor, and collapses next to her with a dramatic flair.

“There was a man here today,” Beth says.

She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him, like deja vu, the feeling of him so familiar, but the memory just out of her reach.

“What?” Annie grunts and reaches out a hand to touch her forehead. “Are you hallucinating?”

Beth smacks her hand away with a loud  _ thwack _ . 

“I’m not crazy - I don’t know who he was, but he had a - “ she pauses and touches her neck in an attempt to describe him which is all it takes because Annie’s eyes light up and she snaps up into a sitting position.

“Shit!” Annie blurts out and reaches out for her bag, “What’s the date today - nevermind,” she shakes her head when she realizes she’s asking the amnesiac.

“Who is he?” 

“Nobody - listen, I have to call Ruby, where’s your phone, mine’s dead - a piece of crap,” Annie huffs and stands. 

She takes off for the kitchen, not paying any attention to Beth trailing after her with a million questions. She finds Beth’s phone and quickly dials. 

“Annie, who is he?” 

“Okay, can you not yell at me, it’s been a really long day,” Annie rolls her eyes and puts the phone up to her ear. “It’s me - hey, he was here - “ she pauses and looks at Beth over her shoulder, grimaces then whispers, “Gang-friend.”

Beth shakes her head and mouths  _ gang-friend. _

“I don’t know, I was at work - Beth what did he say?” 

Beth crosses her arms across her chest and tilts her chin up.

“I’m not telling you until you tell me who he is."

“Jesus Christ,” Annie groans, then she’s speaking into the phone again, “She won’t tell me, I think we’re late, I totally forgot. She usually - “ Annie says then stops. 

Beth taps her foot against the kitchen tile but it’s not as effective when she’s only wearing socks.

“Annie,” Beth whines and Annie shushes her. 

“No, I can’t call him - you call him,” Annie huffs into the phone, “I've never .. she always does  _ that _ part.”

After a few more minutes of whining, Annie agrees to something Beth can’t hear and hangs up.

“Well?” Beth snaps.

Annie frowns, puts one hand on her hip, and studies her sister like she’s debating something. A fresh lick of irritation blooms in Beth's chest, a feeling so very familiar in dealing with Annie, she thinks. 

“Annie,” Beth warns impatiently. 

“I don’t think you can handle it,” Annie says with a shake of her head, “You’re still - you’re -  _ fragile _ .”

“Tell me!” 

Annie groans, “You tell me what he wanted, first.”

Beth shakes her head, arms still crossed tightly across her middle.

Annie exhales dramatically.

“Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you - and you  _ cannot _ \- freak - out,” she points a finger at Beth and arches a brow. “Promise me.”

“Yes, I promise,” Beth nods quickly.

A beat passes. 

Annie’s face contorts through a few different emotions before she speaks. 

“He’s a gang member - leader, gang-friend?” Annie says with a confused look on her face as she runs through his nicknames, “and we print and clean money for him,” she finishes with a nod.

Beth blinks.

“Oh, wow, it’s weird to say that out loud,” Annie says with a shake of her head.

Laughter bubbles out of Beth.  “Annie, be serious.”

Annie exhales, “As a heart attack, and really  _ all _ your idea.”

Beth grabs the counter and laughs again. “No.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“Rio,” Annie answers.

“What?”

“That’s his name, Rio,” Annie clarifies and opens the fridge. 

“Rio,” Beth whispers. 

“Yeah, you guys are like - “ she begins then immediately stops before quickly adding, “Friends.” 

Beth frowns at her and Annie nods, unconvincingly.

_ Rio.  _

She repeats it to herself a few times, lets it sit there, in the back of her mind. It feels familiar but not the way it’d felt to have him there, standing in front of her.

“What did he want?” Annie asks pointedly, still rummaging through the fridge. 

Beth hums in questions, still a little lost in her attempts to identify this feeling, recall him. 

“What did he say to you?”

Beth shakes her head, trying to push past the throbbing in her temple.

“Nothing.”

Annie huffs out dramatically and looks down at the phone again. 

She grimaces, then she dials.

***

When he comes back two days later he isn't alone. 

There’s a burly man following close behind him who gives her a friendly nod before he stalks over to Annie and picks up the duffle bag she’d pulled out of nowhere. The duffle she now knows is full of counterfeit cash. 

A part of her hadn’t believed Annie or Ruby, she hadn’t thought them capable, not until Annie had produced the evidence. 

When  _ Rio _ finally looks at her - the only sign that he’s given her to acknowledge her presence the entire time he’s been in her kitchen, his eyes linger on her forehead a little too long. It makes her cheeks burn, makes her touch her bangs self consciously. 

He leans a hip against the kitchen island, completely still as the other man digs through the bag and makes conversation with Annie. 

She can hear Annie arguing back with the man about something banal, but only barely. The tinnitus that had started after the accident, never really dulling, was now piercing so loudly it made her dizzy. 

It mutes Annie’s chatter almost completely until all she can hear is her own heartbeat. 

She doesn’t mean to stare, it's just that she still can’t place him, still can’t remember. The only thing she’s sure of is that this man is not a friend.

His lip curls again, and just when she thinks she’s about to see it again - that smile, his attention turns to the burly man.

“Good,” the bigger man grunts out with a nod.

Annie’s still talking about  _ next _ time and Rio shakes his head at Annie once, then looks back to Beth.

“Nah,” he says lazily and kicks off the counter. The burly man hauls the duffle over his shoulder, not paying them any attention. He exits the kitchen with a quick nod, leaving the three of them alone. 

“What?” Annie says.

“We’re gonna pause for a minute,” he says and squares his shoulders like he’s waiting for Annie’s outburst. 

“And why would we do that?” Annie says slowly, almost carefully. It’s a side of her Beth’s not familiar with. “We have a system, a  _ routine _ .” 

“And the system ain’t working right now, is it?” 

He pulls his hands out of his pockets and turns for the door without another look in Beth’s direction.

“Are you kidding me?” Annie all but yells. “Is this because of Beth?” 

Annie steps forwards to meet him by the door and Beth can see his jaw tighten from her spot across the kitchen island. It pulls a tendon in his neck and she can’t help but stare at it and the way it makes the tattoo jump. 

His eyes flash with the same anger she’d seen days ago. It makes her giddy. 

“Because she’s  _ fine _ , Ruby and I can still - “

He turns quickly, steps too close to Annie that it stops her mid-sentence.

“And what happened the last time you thought you could handle this without your sister?” 

Annie huffs but doesn’t say another word. 

Beth’s eyes snap between Annie and Rio, dizzy but invested. 

He takes one last look across the kitchen, briefly making eye contact with Beth until his eyes jump up to her forehead. It’s better now, the cut, almost fully healed, just a little pink.

He doesn’t say another word and Annie doesn’t try to stop him when he leaves.

***

When it finally happens, it’s sudden and borderline violent. It’s the smell, more than anything that triggers a memory of the first batch they’d ever poured together. It’s the smell of acetone and paint thinner, then the soft noise of the blender that rocks through her. By the time the night is over she remembers more than she’d recalled in weeks. 

After a while, the tinnitus goes away too. 

The scar heals over until there’s nothing left but the memory of it.

She doesn't call, instead, she slips into her favorite pair of boots and decides to get a drink. 

It’s busier than she remembers, full of young people and happy couples. Like a creature of habit, he’s seated in the same spot, the same stool she remembers so clearly. 

She slips in next to him quietly, lets his heavy eyes scrutinize her for a moment. 

He doesn’t greet her, doesn’t speak, just waves the bartender over with two fingers. When the bartender slides up he doesn’t order for her, he turns to eye her almost suspiciously, waiting. 

She rolls her eyes and leans across the bar to shout her order over the music. 

The bartender nods once and disappears. 

When he’s satisfied that she’d ordered correctly, that she’d remembered, he leans closer.

“How you feelin’ champ?”

He hasn’t looked at her forehead once.

“Ready to get back to work,” she says and smiles at the bartender when he slides her bourbon to her.

“Oh yeah?” 

“Ready when you are,” she adds sweetly, ironically.

When he grins at that she wonders how many he’d had tonight. His usually broad posture gone as he slumps forwards against the bar, relaxed. 

“You sure you remember how to make my money?” 

She huffs quietly and turns forwards to take a sip of her drink.

“I remember.”

“Everything?” He adds a little too quickly, still staring at her.

The bourbon burns her lips. 

She swallows quickly, takes a deep breath, and licks her lips clean.  His question burns just as much, a heavyweight in her belly.  She’d remembered everything. Not the same day but in time, it’d all come back to her. The money, his touch, his kiss.  The nightmare of shooting him, the way the blood had spewed from his mouth when he’d hit the ground.  The look in his eyes when he’d killed Lucy, the way she’d screamed at him after. 

More than the memories, the feelings had come back.  It took her a few days to realize why black Cadillacs made her heart race every time she’d see one around the corner.  The way her heart hammers against her ribcage now, the warmth in her belly every time his heavy eyes linger too long. 

She nods, abandoning her drink and turning to face him finally. 

He hums, eyes dropping to her mouth as he fights a small smile. 

“You want this?” 

This is it, she realizes finally, the only chance she’ll have for a clean break. A moment she’d wanted so badly that she’d hired a hitman with every last penny she could spare. But now, in this very moment of freedom, with him so close and the memories of what was and could be ... she can't shake him. 

She exhales and nods again. 

The grin breaks into a full smile as she feels her insides shake. 


End file.
